Current location:	Sydney, Australia
Current mood:	tired
Entry tags:	visual art

Travel sketchbook
While in Malaysia I did take along my scrapbook as I wanted to do some sketches. I'll post a few of them here because I feel like it.

On the plane, since I decided to stay awake, I attempted to do some concept sketches for the costume. This is inherently silly- the character will be my flimsy excuse to attempt to make superficial referents to an entirely fictional culture. Hell if I know how I'm going to do that but hey, no harm in trying, so because I feel like banging my head against a wall, I'll do just that: it's fun.





I quickly realised that I was trying to, as usual, when I attempt to draw something I suck at, cram too much into too little. I recognised the images in my mind- I wanted to start with something that looked like a Shaolin performance gi (because of the single sleeve) plus a few other references, so I had to work it out of my system. Then I figured that for the kind of dancing I want the character to do, he'd be better off in typical breakdancing gear...but that's not what I wanted to end up doing. So I tried again the next day:





This is much better- I've got the following down pat:

1. He has 1 sleeve and leggings. These are each made from a rectangular strip of cloth.
2. Hence they'll require a fair bit of ribbon for tying. The costume is showy and so the ribbons will trail around alot.
3. The sleeve will extend to the index finger.
4. The leggings will probably split at the back.
5. He wears a G-string of sorts...this is also made from a ribbon and a rectangular strip of cloth, folded over.
6. He has a shoulderpad. I'm not sure about the size, shape, or how it relates to the sleeve.

All this indicates that there is very little stitching, if any at all, on the costume. Maybe the only place this happens is on the shoulder guard, which will probably be important- it may denote some kind of rank/skill level/specific role.

Now, I have a few other pressing questions which you might be able to see on the sheet itself, although then again these are horrible scans as I did them post-haste.

1. I'm hoping to have some kind of text running along the length of the sleeve and legging. The question is should it be embroidered or dyed, and what kind of text should it be? Or should it just be symbols and patterns? This is directly related to the culture...so it's a question I should only be asking people who would be interested in helping me 'generate a culture' (which would likely be a waste of your time, as I don't even know what this character will be used for...he's the child of folly).
2. Should I incorporate any other ornaments into the ribbons themselves?
3. The sleeve shape...I don't know if I want it loose/baggy or relatively form hugging, as shown in the above sketches.
4. How to tie the ribbons and whatnot I've left relatively open- the character will decide this based on his performance repertoire, most likely.

In case you haven't figured yet, he's this guy.

Now, it's late and I'm tired as I have a memorial service to go to in the morning (2nd anniversary of my father's death), so I'm going to paste my description of the next pic as shown on DeviantArt. Also note that the DA version is lifesize @ 96 dpi and made to fit my widescreen exactly, whilst the VCL version is smaller so it fits on the Windows default fax and picture viewer.





This is a complete image but it may be actually colored/background filled and framed if I want to draw a cartoon sequence of some sort. So this probably isn't the last version you'll see!

I did it while sitting in my aunt+uncle's office (they run a forklift-parts-supply business in KL)...took me about 45-60 minutes all up which I think isn't too bad nowadays. And I'm quite pleased with the result.

If you've ever watched any of the dozens of HK movies starring Jet Li as the legendary Wong Fei Hung (the Once Upon in China series for a start...just google the discography, the list is HUGE), then you will know his portrayal of the legendary technique "No Shadow Kick". For those of you who don't...basically it's a flying barrage of sweeping kicks, and it usually takes the opponent completely by surprise and is very powerful. The way Jet Li does it, it's hilarious, but also impossible unless you know wire-fu.

Or you have wings and can hover in the air. Like Orlestat, my Shaolin peregrine. The other character in the pic is the warrior hyena, Jahari- who belongs to Strawcat. The pic itself was from a road-testing of sorts- as he wanted to use Jahari in a text-based roleplaying game and had spent much time on the character due to his central role in the setting. We don't think that the story universes that the two occupy actually ever cross, so the image is "not canon" as far as that means anything at all...but that isn't going to stop me from having my fun with it! Besides, Orlestat and Jahari are hot.

Okay, that's enough for the time being. Any more help with the costuming thingy would be much appreciated, I guess. Now I go sleep.